Process of the fusion of metals.



Patented July l, 1902.

H. A. E. MENNE.

PROCESS OF THE FUSION-0F METALS.

(Application med Dec. 12, 1901.

(No Model.)

I 5 T M l I l I l l y 'i l. V 1 i l i l 1- -v I i I i i i i J9" I I i lmS I I 'l I 7 i g l Ira enrol. 17.27. E'Menne.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

HERMANN ADoLPH ERNST MENNE, CREUZTHAL, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO ooLN-MUsENER BERGWERKS ACTIEN VEREIN, OF OREUZTHAL, wnsr- PHALIA, GERMANY.

PROCESS OF THEYFUSION OF METALS.

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 703,940, dated July 1, 1902.

Application filed December 12,1901.

To all *whom it may concern.- Be it known that I, HERMANN ADOLPI-I ERNST MENNE, doctor of philosophy, chemist, a subject of the German Emperor, residing S at Oreuzthal, Westphalia, Germany, have invented new and useful Improvements in Processes of the Fusion of Metals, of which the following is a specification.

It is oftenlof the greatest importance in vatb rious metallurgical and other industries to effect the rapid fusion of hardened or metallic masses-for instance, of residues or slag in blast-furnaces, Martin furnaces, cupola-furhaces, &c.+when in places where they should i'5 not be andwhich injuriously affect the working of the furnace. -If done in a purely mechanical manner, such operation frequently takes hours or days. p

The object of the invention hereinafter 'de- 2'0 scribed is to remove such masses by melting or fusing by means of a suitable method in using and applying an oxyhydrogen -gas burner.

Although the temperature of the oxyhydro- '2 5 den-gasflame is considerably higher than the melting-point of most metals which are diflicult to melt, it is not easy by means of this flame to effect in a short time themelting of large masses of material having a high melt- 33o ing-point-for example, to melt down in a horizontaldirection a block of iron of about one hundred millimeters thickness and a weight of fifty kilogramsas,first,the heat absorption weakens the heat-supply too much,

5 and, secondly, when the melting process begins and the hole or pit formed commences to become deep or large the molten metal as soon as it is beyond the reach of the hot. flame, on the one hand, tends to close up the 0 entrance of the hole by rehardening, and, on the other hand, flows to and fro before the flame, and thus screens fresh points of attack for melting by the flame. According to this invention, however, a satisfactory melting is effected in a few minutes.

A combustible gas, such as hydrogen, is conducted through the outer tube of a Daniell burner or oxyhydrogen jet of about twenty millimeters clear width and ignited at its outer end. Oxygen is then blown through the inner narrow tube, about four object to be melted through may be. high pressure of the oxygen, moreover, has the advantageof enabling me to make holes in vertical direction.

are: No. 85,640. (No specimens.)

millimeters bore in the first place, at moderate pressuresay about one atmosphere or less. As the block of iron or metal becomes heated up to a temperature at which the iron begins to burn in oxygen the supply of oxygen is increased, so that it eventually escapes at a pressure of about six atmospheres even up to twenty atmospheres or more. The flame becomes cooler, but the iron and its combustible ingredients-such as P, Si, C, &c.-develop when burning such an enormous heat that the iron particles in the neighborhood of the flame become molten. When now these moltenparticles are pressed aside by the high-pressed gas quicker than the derivation of heat is able to chill the iron again, the danger of derivation of heat is avoided and the melting succeeds, no matter how deep the The The molten and oxidized masses spring like afountain up to ten meters or more out from the formed pit. It

\ is therefore clear that I can make holes in horizontal direction of almost any length and a relativel y small cross-section-sayseventy to one hundred millimeters. This is of great value, say, for instance, in furnaces and the like when the delivery-hole is obstructed, my process allowing aquick emptying of the furnace. It is possible to produce holes of more than one meter in a time, which is less than three and five minutes, sometimes. The increasing supply of the oxygen can be easily regulated without much practice, and it is unnecessary to indicate special instructions or means. The gases can be obtained from gasometers or directly from gas-making ap- 9o paratusfor example, petroleum gasifying apparatus, gasolene apparatus, oxygen-makingretorts, the. It is most convenient for practical purposes to obtain them from steel cylinders of a capacity of about forty liters, 9 5 in which they are compressed at a pressure of about one hundred atmospheres, so that each cylinder can contain about four cubic meters of gas. Reduction valves or regulators provided each with a pressure-gage are ar- I00 ranged on the cylinders, which valves may be set at different pressures by turning a regu- .on an enlarged scale.

lating-screw inward and outward. Suitable tubes connect the reduction-valves with the two tubular ends of the Daniell burner or jet, which may be of any desired lengthfor instance, several meters.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows the burner with its point protected. Fig. 2 shows the burner-head and the gas-supply connection Fig. 3 is a section on the line a: '00 of Fig. 2 as seen in the direction of the arrows. Fig. etis asection on the line 1/ g of Fig. 5, which shows a burnerhead with a Water-cooling device.

In the outer tube a, which supplies the combustible gas, hydrogen petroleum-vapors, or the like, is arranged the feed-pipe b for the oxygen gas. It may be stated that the oxygen used is of course not chemically-pure oxygen gas, but the oxygen gas as is obtained commercially, while under particularly favorable circumstances atmospheric air (containing over twenty per cent. of oxygen) or air saturated with oxygen can be used with success, particularly if it is preliminarily heated. The oxygen-tube b is provided at its rear end with a nut c, and the rear end of this tube b is tightened in the outer tube a by means of the nut c.

d is the protective casing, consisting of refractory material. This casing may consist of any suitable refractory and slowly-combustible material-as, for instance, compressed coal, graphite, coke, gas-retort carbon, magnesite, carborundum, or the like. Between the casing and the tube a I usuallyprovide a space 6, which can be filled with any suitable material or composition of matter of a yielding nature in order to avoid breakage of the protecting casing upon the expansion of the tube.

f represents set-screws to position the tube 12, and a b are the connecting parts for the gas-supply pipes.

The casing or protector can also be made of several single rings, of carbon or the like, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, so as to restrict the melting of the burner-point only down to the next ring in case the first ring should break. As already mentioned, the melting of the burner-point can be also prevented by the use of a water-cooling device, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. The cooling-water enters at g, passes into the cooling-chamber g, surrounds and cools the tube a, and leaves at g As fresh water is continually admitted it effects a continuous cooling of the burner-point. The connecting unions or pipes for the gas-supply are preferably provided with valves or taps for the regulation of the gassupply.

The inner tube can be arranged so as to be withdrawn through aconvenient stuffingbox, and its discharge-opening is preferably situated about ten millimeters within the opening of the outer tube.

When the combustible slags or masses are sufficiently hot so as to burn in the oxygencurrent, the hydrogen gas can be entirely out off and the melting can be continued with oxygen gas only. This is a way for obtaining narrower holes, as the oxygen gas escaping from its narrow nozzle attacks a smaller area than the larger combined flame. This is of great value, for instance, for melting down a slag-mold stopped up with cast-ironsay a cooling-mold of copper about thirty to fifty millimeters opening-in which case it is of particular use, for the copper does not burn at its melting-point in the oxygen gas, so that the copper mold is not injured, while the iron can be blown off right down to the copper walls of the mold.

The melting with oxygen gas only is not a fundamental alteration of the melting effected by a combined hydrogen and oxygen flame having a great excess of oxygen gas, since the combined flame itself is so strongly cooled by the oxygen gas blown through the hydrogen that it cannot support the melting operation. The melting, therefore, is effected only by the burning heat of the material. However, under certain circumstances the combined flame is of some valueviz., the

difficult, because} of the unavoidable vibra tions of the advancing or movingburner tube or jet. It is therefore preferable to maintain the combined flame which heats and keeps warm the adjacent space around the burningpoint,and thereby prevents the cooling from taking place. In the case of pure or almost pure iron the continuation of the melting operation is easily effected by the use of oxygen gas alone.

It may be remarked that by the expression fusion of hardened or metallic masses the melting down of tapping-holes in castingpans, particularly in Martin furnaces, is included and that the present method is particularly of great convenience for such purposes.

In order that the burner may not beaffected by the recoiling flame, its nozzle is preferably protected by a cooling device or a platinum or iridium point, &c.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is-- l. The process of effecting the fusion of hardened masses, particularly the residues or slag in furnaces, which consists in supplying a jet of gas under pressure to said masses, said jet containing sufficient oxygen to burn the components of said mass and being of such a high pressure as to remove the molten masses out of the pit formed by said masses when melted, substantially as described.

2. The process of efiecting the fusion of hardened masses particularly the residues or slag in furnaces which consists in applying a jet of gas under pressure to said masses, said jet being composed of any combustible gas and a surplus of oxygen to melt said IO masses and burn the components thereof,

the presence of 15 

